A Jump-Welding Alternative for the Toe Cap

I have been taking pictures for my dad’s articles for a long time and suggesting different ways to do some of the shoes. For the toe-cap bar shoe, he wanted to come up with a different way of making the shoe than he used in a toe-cap shoe a couple of years ago. I suggested jump welding and Dad said I should write an article on jump welding the toe cap.

I started with a bar shoe and jump welded the cap on the shoe.

I suggest bumping 3/4 to 1 inch into the toe of the bar shoe. After you get the bar shoe done, make the shoe fit the horn (Figure 1). Then take a straight piece of bar stock and mark where you want your first nail (Figure 2). Slide the shoe on the horn and mark about 1/8 inch away from the line you just made. This is seen in Figures 3 and 4. Measure from one mark to the other (Figures 5 and 6).

Next, run a piece of 1/4-by-3/4-inch stock down to about 1/8-by-5/8 inch (Figure 7). It will make it easier to get a seamless weld by beveling the ends and edges as shown in Figures 8 through 10. Cut the piece at the spots you just measured with the beveled edge of your fuller toward the cap piece (Figure 11).

Be sure to make the cut so that you can break the toe cap off easily. The finished product can be seen in Figure 12.

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Now brush the material (Figures 13 and 14) and flux it (Figures15 and 16).

To weld, hold the toe cap with your tong hand and the shoe with your hammer hand (Figure 17). Once you get a heat, slap the shoe onto the horn with the toe centered on it and guide the toe cap in with your hammer (Figures 18 and 19). After you have it stuck, hold the toe cap with your tongs and move the bar stock up and down very carefully until it shears apart (Figures 20 and 21).

Get a good heat and tap lightly to get it welded (Figure 22). On the next heat, use the edges of the hammer to get rid of the seams. Using the edge of the hammer will make a seamless weld on the long edge of the toe cap (Figure 23).

At this point, the shoe should look like Figure 24. Now all you have to do is to clean it up with a rasp (Figure 25).

If you lay your toe cap down too much, the best way to stand it up is to hang the toe cap over the tip of your horn and hit the shoe (Figure 26).

Figures 27 through 29 show how my shoe turned out.

This shoe can be challenging and a lot of fun. One of the nice things about this method is that you can put the toe cap any where you desire.

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